Eileen Burbidge

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(born June 1971) is a British-American

venture capitalist Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...

based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, UK. She is a founding partner of Passion Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm that has invested in

Monzo Monzo Bank Ltd () is an neobank, online bank based in the United Kingdom. Monzo was one of the earliest of a number of new app-based challenger banks in the UK. Originally operating through a mobile app and a prepaid debit card, in April 2017 ...

, Go Cardless and Lulu, a private social network for single women.

Career

Burbidge previously worked in marketing roles at

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

and Sun Microsystems. In 2004 she moved from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

to London to pursue a career with

Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...

. After working at Skype, Burbidge launched Passion Capital, an early-stage London venture capital firm, with Stefan Glaenzer in 2008. In 2015, Burbidge was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for services to entrepreneurship in the New Year honours list. In July 2015, she was appointed as the British Treasury's "special envoy" for

fintech Fintech, a portmanteau of "financial technology", refers to firms using new technology to compete with traditional financial methods in the delivery of financial services. Artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, and big data are r ...

. In November 2018, Burbidge was named to the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

'' list of the 'Top 100 minority ethnic leaders in technology'. In January 2019, she joined the board of

Currys plc Currys plc, formerly Dixons Carphone plc, is a British multinational electrical and telecommunications retailer and services company headquartered in London, England. It was formed on 7 August 2014 by the merger of Dixons Retail and Carphone ...

as a non-executive director. In October 2020, Burbidge was added to ''Computer Weekly''s Most Influential Women in UK Tech Hall of Fame. This list is published annually to recognise women who have had a long career in the tech sector and/or made a lasting contribution to the sector.

Personal life

Burbidge has also used the names Eileen Tso and Eileen Broch, her maiden name and her name from a previous marriage, respectively.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burbidge, Eileen 1971 births Living people American venture capitalists British venture capitalists Members of the Order of the British Empire